Chapter 39 Celeste
Celeste's POV
I grabbed Levi’s hand as we headed into the forest within our base. Only a select few were permitted to enter. From the outside, it was eerily silent, as though the trees swallowed every sound.
“Alpha. Sir Levi.”
I held my breath and nodded stiffly to the others, who bowed respectfully to Levi and me.
Beta Dylan asked Levi and me to stand between him and Gamma Silas.
The welcoming ceremony for the twenty children had started a few minutes ago without me.
"I'll have your attention." Gamma Silas clapped his hands, and the twenty children looked at him. Then he introduced Levi and me to them. "This is our Alpha, Alpha Celeste, and Sir Levi is our future Alpha."
“Greetings, Alpha Celeste. Sir Levi.” All twenty children, between seven and ten years old, bowed to us in unison.
They were abandoned children who had agreed to join us. A series of tests would decide whether they were suited to become spies or assassins.
Then they will spend years in training. Gamma Silas and Delta Giana will determine when they will begin their missions.
"Welcome to the Black Birds Group." I looked at the sixteen rogue children and four werewolf children with pity. It turned out there were many abandoned children in the rogue clan, perhaps because of the limited number of orphanages.
"By deciding to join us, you have dedicated your entire time and your lives to this group." Those are the words that bind everyone in this base until we die.
We trapped ourselves in this place. There was no chance to envy the lives of others out there. Escape was futile; everything was under our control.
The people here were fiercely loyal to this base. They wouldn't allow anyone to betray them.
After the welcoming ceremony ended, the twenty boys and girls were asked to share their lives as vagrants and show us what they were capable of.
Their stories were heartbreaking, even though they told them with bright smiles and eager voices. They had no idea how easily we could find their families.
“You are not wrong for existing in this world. You deserve to live,” I told them. I couldn’t stop myself from saying it. “Thank you for staying alive. If you hadn’t, we never would have found you.”
They smiled broadly, and I could see a glint of happiness and emotion in their eyes. The words I spoke were words they had never heard before.
They should have been in school, playing with friends their own age. Childhood was meant to be something beautiful.
We would educate them properly. An assassin or a spy could never afford to be stupid.
“Your words will make them think they were born into this world to be one of us,” Beta Dylan said in a low voice. “Did you tell them that on purpose, Alpha?”
“No.” I shook my head. Yeah, it sounds great if my words could make them never regret joining us.
The next activity showcased the assassins' fighting abilities, while the agents recounted their most daring missions to gather information.
I left the place half an hour before Liam got home from school. Levi didn't come with me; he was happy to be there.
Levi and I just dropped Liam off at school. David, a spy agent pretending to be Liam's uncle, was waiting for Liam at his school.
David was trustworthy. There have been no problems this week, and hopefully it will stay that way.
Alpha Eiden asked if Liam had arrived home yet. I replied to his message while sitting on a chair on the porch.
I leaned back with my eyes fixed on the road ahead, anxiously waiting for Liam and trying to trust David and our driver that they wouldn't let anything bad happen to him.
My mind wandered, all the information flooding into my head, and it reminded me of Alpha Eiden, who had called me two days ago in the night. For some reason, I picked up the phone and sent him two videos of baby Liam.
I still couldn't believe he would tell me about the nightmares he had been having for months, long before he found Liam.
Honestly, I often think about Alpha Eiden asking me to help him find someone who will stop his nightmares.
'What do you think, Alea?' I asked my wolf. 'He seems to be really suffering. I wonder what kind of nightmares are haunting him that he won't sleep.'
‘Yeah, looks like he’s suffering.’ My wolf nodded. 'He’s contacted a lot of rogue intel, but for some reason, no one has suggested he go to the Purple Forest Group. Do they not realize that group is the only one capable of wielding magic?'
'Strangely, the rogue intel doesn’t know about them,' I said. 'All the rogues know about the Purple Forest Group, even though they keep it secret.'
I looked at the sun shining brightly. 'It seems those rogue intel don’t think Alpha Eiden’s nightmares are caused by magic.'
‘Ah, that makes sense.’ My wolf nodded. 'Then why did Beta Dylan tell you that only the Purple Forest Group can help Alpha Eiden?'
'I don’t know.' I shrugged. 'Maybe I’ll look into the files of the cases our agents have already handled.'
I frowned, never having thought of this before. ‘Maybe I’ll look through the files on the cases our agents have solved.’
I had encouraged Alpha Eiden to contact the rogue assassins, but he hadn't. He was torturing himself. This was the first time I had ever encountered an Alpha werewolf hesitant to trust a rogue assassin.
"Liam." I stood as the black car pulled into the front yard. Relief filled my chest to see Liam safe and sound.
"Mom." Liam got out of the car and ran to me with a bright smile. We hugged tightly with longing.
"Where's Levi?" Liam released me and immediately looked for his half-brother.
“He’s in the forest. The welcoming ceremony for the twenty new children is still underway,” I replied.
“Wow, we officially have new members.” Liam smiled. I nodded.
He went to his room to change, and I waited for him in the playroom, playing on my phone.
“My friend was crying.” Liam arrived in the room and sat across from me, his face grim. “Her dad died two days ago.”
“I feel sorry for her.” I held Liam’s small hand. He must have remembered Benedict, but what he said after five minutes of silence really surprised me.
"I want to believe in Alpha Eiden. He seems like a good person, and he really wants to be my father." Liam said it hesitantly and lowered his head quickly, not wanting me to see his expression.
“But I don't want to live apart from you and Levi, and only see you once a week. River Dectagon Pack is very far from this base.” Liam said what I had been afraid of all this time.
I was stunned and stared at Liam in disbelief. How could he even think that? I never brought up the idea of him living with Alpha Eiden someday.
“Take your time thinking about it,” I reassured him. In truth, I said that because I needed more time to prepare myself for Liam living with his biological father.
"Do you want to video call Alpha Eiden?" I asked Liam to call or video call Alpha Eiden almost every day, but it wasn't easy to get him to do it.
"Okay." Liam nodded after a few seconds of thought. "It's been a while since we've video-called."
I smiled and patted Liam's head twice. I quickly sent a message to Alpha Eiden. The man was so happy that he no longer cared about his work.
Who would have thought Alpha Eiden could win Liam's heart in less than two months? Yeah, he's a good man. He even cares about Levi.